Four tones

Also known as: 四声 (sìshēng).

One of the first concepts you need to learn when tackling Mandarin Chinese is tones. You'll often hear that there are four main tones, although there is also a "neutral tone," so you sometimes hear it said that there are five.

Sources and further reading

• Wikipedia: Mandarin Chinese: Tones
• Wikipedia: Four tones (Chinese)
• Sinosplice: Toward Better Tones in Natural Speech
• Hacking Chinese: Tones are more important than you think
• Sinosplice: Kaiser’s “Dude System” of Tones